Bruins Take Two In Saskatoon, Ready for Season

The Boston Bruins played a home game away from home on Friday, beating the Winnipeg Jets 5-0 to wrap up their preseason schedule.

(Winnipeg Sun)

The teams played on consecutive days—each being the “home” team once—from the Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in Canada. The Bruins also took the first game on Thursday; with a 3-2 overtime win, leaving their final preseason record at 6-1-0.

“Our team has obviously responded in these preseason games; I think, overall, we’ve played decent,” said head coach Claude Julien following Friday’s win.

Young goaltender Niklas Svedberg was in net for the first game of the set, and stopped 26 shots. Tuukka Rask played the entire second game, shutting out the Jets and saving 20.

New winger Loui Eriksson landed the game-winner at 1:46 of overtime on Thursday, his only goal of the preseason. Ryan Spooner and Patrice Bergeron also scored in the game.

When the puck was dropped Friday night, Boston looked as if they wanted the regular season to just begin already.

Carl Soderberg opened the scoring for the Bruins, but was followed up quickly by D-man Johnny Boychuk firing a right point shot past Winnipeg’s Al Montoya, all in the game’s opening minutes.

The Jets’ offense appeared stifled in the second and third period, managing only four shots and three shots, respectively.

This opened the door for two players likely fighting for the spare forward spot on the Bruins’ roster—Jordan Caron and Nick Johnson added the next two goals for Boston—no doubt adding fuel to the fire of a very close roster race.

“When there’s a battle going on like that, you like to see those guys respond the way they did,” said Julien.

Patrice Bergeron, who is not in a tussle for a roster spot, scored for the second straight game for the Bruins’ fifth goal on Friday.

News also came out Saturday morning from ESPNBoston.com’s Joey McDonald that Matt Fraser, Matt Lindblad, Ryan Spooner and Niklas Svedberg have all been assigned to Providence.

At any rate, the Bruins appear hungry and ready to face regular season action. Boston opens their schedule against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, Oct. 3 at the TD Garden in Boston.